ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996 TAG: 9604010031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
So far, so good for peach crop
DANVILLE - Late winter's cold weather appears not to have harmed the state peach crop - so far.
``I think right now it looks pretty good,'' said Richard Marini, a Virginia Cooperative Extension Service fruit specialist at Virginia Tech.
He said about 80 percent to 90 percent of the trees will still bear fruit if no hard cold snap hits the mountains.
``We've got two or three weeks before we're out of the woods,'' Marini said.
Danville orchardist Woodrow Walker said some of his 300 trees started to bloom last week. He said if the wind blows at night, frost shouldn't damage the blooms.
``After they open up, that bloom then is susceptible to a frost that comes up in April,'' he said.
- Associated Press
1 of 2 parents with cancer dies
FAIRFAX - Eduardo Belandres, who was profiled in the news media because both he and his wife had terminal cancer, has died at 43.
Belandres died of small-cell carcinoma Wednesday, two days after he and his wife became United States citizens in a special ceremony in his hospital room.
Belandres, a Philippine immigrant, was diagnosed in 1994, three weeks after his wife, Lolita Belandres, learned she had pharyngeal cancer.
Newspaper and TV stories about the couple's condition and their concerns for their four children prompted hundreds of telephone calls offering assistance.
The Belandreses asked for the unusual citizenship oath as a final wish.
William J. Carroll, the Washington district director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, administered the oath to the couple.
Belandres, of Sterling, worked as a mail sorter at Dulles International Airport.
- Associated Press
Benge's Rock plans pick up steam
NORTON - A proposal to make Benge's Rock on High Knob Mountain more accessible to tourists has spawned a larger movement to celebrate the area's Native American history.
On Tuesday, the chief and medicine man of the Northern Tsalagi Indian Tribe of Southwest Virginia will meet with supporters of the project.
The Norton Kiwanis Club proposed making Benge's Rock more popular and easier to visit. The club wants to put in three overlooks at the site off High Knob Road and build a 1,300-foot walking trail to the rock where the chief named Benge worshipped.
The original idea has grown into a regional project, said Kiwanis Club Second Vice President Chris Jones. He said the support ranges from Cumberland Gap to Wise County to the Tsalagi tribe, based in North Carolina.
``The community response to this project has been super,'' Jones said.
Benge, of Scottish and Cherokee ancestry, ruled the mountainous area for several years in the 1770s. He was ambushed and killed by a Lee County man between Norton and Appalachia at Ben's Branch in the 1790s.
- Associated Press
Nonprofit suggested for land preservation
WILLIAMSBURG - A nonprofit corporation composed of government, business and private interests should be formed to buy property for preservation in the Williamsburg area, Del. George Grayson says.
Grayson, D-Williamsburg, told representatives of the Williamsburg Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that such a group is needed to preserve the area's historic attractions.
``To the degree that we bulldoze, pave over and clear-cut our assets, we will suffer in the pocketbook as well as in the soul,'' he said.
The foundation could pursue cash and land donations, grants and loans to buy or trade for key properties with environmental, historic or aesthetic values, he said.
Grayson hopes to convene a meeting of interested individuals and groups within the next six weeks, but said he wants to limit his role to ``making a financial contribution and helping out, if necessary, with state authorities in Richmond.''
- Associated Press
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